How America's 40 Largest Cities Elect Their Council Members

Fri., June 25, 1999

All politics is local because every city is different; when you ask "How do America's 40 largest cities elect their council members?" you get 40 different answers. This chart describes some key differences.

Government System

M: Under the Strong Mayor system in place in 26 of the cities, the mayor and council are separate, equal, and often combative branches of government (à la the President and Congress).

C: Council-manager systems (what Austin has) feature a council that includes the mayor and a hired-gun chief executive.

P: Under a commission system (found only in Portland), each council member actually runs city departments.

Election System

SM: Single-member districts should be self-explanatory; all but five of the cities elect all or most of their council members in this way. There are two flavors of at-large elections:

Place: In Place systems, like we have, candidates run for specific seats.

Prop.: In Proportional Representation ("prop-rep") systems, all the candidates run as a herd and citizens get to vote for more than one.

MM: The two cities with multi-member districts elect the reps from them via prop-rep. Many cities, as you can see, have systems that mix single-member and at-large.

# of Seats

This includes the mayors of council-manager cities. Most strong-mayor cities have a council president (or speaker), who is sometimes elected directly (indicated on the chart as "+1") and otherwise chosen by the council.

D, AL: In mixed systems, some members are elected from districts, some at large.

Terms

Note that Austin is the only city with 3-year terms.

Ü: In a staggered system, for instance, here in Austin, the city doesn't elect all the council members in the same year.

Term Limits

About half the cities have term limits.

* In four of them, limits apply to the mayor only.

Election Dates

Most every city has two election dates ñ either a primary and general election, in cities with partisan races, or a general and runoff election, as we do. Sometimes, both are in the same month, which is why some cities only have one month listed. -- M.C.M.

Rank	City	Pop. (1996)	Gov.	Elections	# seats	Term	limit	Elect. cycle	Elect. dates	Notes
1	New York, NY	7,380,906	M	SM	51	4 yrs	2*	Next 2001	Sep/Nov	Partisan; also 5 elected borough presidents
2	Los Angeles, CA	3,553,638	M	SM	15	4 yrs†	2	Odd years	Apr/Jun	Attempt to expand council defeated in June; unified local elections
3	Chicago, IL	2,721,547	M	SM	50	4 yrs	-	Next 2003	Feb/Apr
4	Houston, TX	1,744,058	M	SM+Place	14 (9 D, 5 AL)	2 yrs	2	Odd years	Nov/Dec	Will add 2 districts when population goes above 2.1 million
5	Philadelphia, PA	1,478,002	M	SM+Prop.	17 (10 D, 7 AL)	4 yrs	2*	Next 1999	May/Nov	Partisan; voters get 5 at-large votes, top 7 vote-getters are elected
6	San Diego, CA	1,171,121	C	SM	9	4 yrs†	2	Even years	Mar/Nov	Unified with state/ federal elections
7	Phoenix, AZ	1,159,014	C	SM	9	4 yrs†	-	Odd years	Sep
8	San Antonio, TX	1,067,816	C	SM	11	2 yrs	2	Odd years	May
9	Dallas, TX	1,053,292	C	SM	15	2 yrs	8 yrs	Odd years	May	Mayor serves 4-year term
10	Detroit, MI	1,000,272	M	Prop.	9	4 yrs	-	Next 2001	Sep/Nov	Top vote-getter becomes City Council president
11	San Jose, CA	838,744	C	SM	11	4 yrs†	2	Even years	Mar/Nov	Unified with state/ federal elections
12	Indianapolis, IN	746,737	M	SM+Prop.	29 (25 D, 4 AL)	4 yrs	-	Next 1999	May/Nov	Partisan
13	San Francisco, CA	735,315	M	SM *	11	4 yrs†	2	Next 2000	Nov/Dec	System effective 2000; unified with state/ federal elections
14	Jacksonville, FL	679,792	M	SM+Place	19 (14 D, 5 AL)	4 yrs	2	Next 2003	Apr/May	Partisan; term limits effective 1999
15	Baltimore, MD	675,401	M	MM	19 (6 D x 3+1)	4 yrs	-	Next 1999	Sep/Nov	Partisan; 3 members elected (prop.) from each of 6 districts; Council president elected at large
16	Columbus, OH	657,053	M	Prop.	7	4 yrs†	-	Odd years	May/Nov
17	El Paso, TX	599,865	C	SM	9	2 yrs	4	Odd years	May	Went from 6 to 8 districts (+ mayor) in 1993
18	Memphis, TN	596,725	M	SM+MM	13 (7 D+2x3)	4 yrs	-	Next 1999	Oct/Nov	Two superdistricts (each covering half the city) elect (prop.) 3 members each
19	Milwaukee, WI	590,503	M	SM	17	4 yrs	-	Next 2000	April
20	Boston, MA	558,394	M	SM+Prop.	13 (9 D, 4 AL)	2 yrs	-	Odd years	Nov	Partisan; mayor serves 4-year term
21	Washington, DC	543,213	M	SM+Prop.*	13 (8 D, 4 AL+1)	4 yrs†	-	Even years	Sep/Nov	Partisan; at-large councilors must be from (at least two) different parties; Council president elected at large; unified w/federal elections
22	Austin, TX	541,278	C	Place	7	3 yrs†	2	Next 2000	May
23	Seattle, WA	524,704	M	Prop.	9	4 yrs†	-	Odd years	Mar
24	Nashville, TN	511,263	M	SM+Prop.	41 (35 D, 5 AL+1)	4 yrs	3*	Next 1999	Aug/Sep	Vice-mayor (council president) elected at large
25	Cleveland, OH	498,246	M	SM	21	4 yrs	-	Next 2001	Sep/Nov	Partisan; downsized council from 35 members in 1982; unified local elections
26	Denver, CO	497,840	M	SM+Prop.	13 (11 D, 2 AL)	4 yrs	-	Next 2003	May/Jun
27	Portland, OR	480,824	P	Place	5	4 yrs†	-	Even years	May/Nov	Term-limit initiative planned for 2000 ballot; unified with state/ federal elections
28	Fort Worth, TX	479,716	C	SM	9	2 yrs	-	Odd years	May	Mayor is District 1
29	New Orleans, LA	476,625	M	SM+Prop.	7 (5 D, 2 AL)	4 yrs	2	Next 2002	Mar/Apr	Partisan; council president must be at-large member
30	Oklahoma City, OK	469,852	C	SM	9	4 yrs	-	2002	Apr/May
31	Tuscon, AZ	449,002	C	SM+Place	7 (7D)	4 yrs†	-	Odd years	Sep/Nov	Partisan; council members nominated by districts, elected at large
32	Charlotte, NC	441,297	C	SM+Prop.	11 (7 D, 4 AL)	2 yrs	-	Odd years	Sep/Nov	Partisan
33	Kansas City, MO	441,259	C	SM+Place	12 (6 D, 6 AL)	4 yrs	2	Next 2003	Mar/Apr	Each district has one member elected by the district and one elected at-large
34	Virginia Beach, VA	430,385	C	SM+Place	11 (7 D, 4 AL)	4 yrs†	-	Even years	May	Current system effective 1998
35	Honolulu, HI	423,475	M	SM	9	4 yrs	2	Next 2002	Sep/Nov	Unified with state/federal elections
36	Long Beach, CA	421,904	M	SM	9	4 yrs†	2	Even years	Apr/Jun
37	Albuquerque, NM	419,681	M	SM	9	4 yrs†	2*	Odd years	Oct	Runoff only required if no candidate gets 40 percent of vote
38	Atlanta, GA	401,907	M	SM+Place	16 (12 D, 3 AL+1)	4 yrs	-	Next 2001	Nov	At-large members represent posts (groups of 4 districts); Council president elected at large; current system effective 1996
39	Fresno, CA	396,011	M	SM	7	4 yrs†	2	Even years	Mar/Nov	Unified with state/federal elections; current system effective 1996
40	Tulsa, OK	378,491	M	SM	9	2 yrs	-	Even years	Feb/Mar	Partisan; mayor serves 4-year term

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